Music-leaf turner



'(No' Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. T. OARRINGTON 82 A. J. SLEEPER.

MUSIC LEAF TURNER.

No. 873,269. I Patented N0v.;15, 1887-.

WITNESSES (No Model.)- I v 3 Sheets'-Sheet 2. E J. T. GARRINGTON' 8?. A. J. SLEEPER.

MUSIC LBAF TUB NER.

No. 373,269.' I Patented NOV. 15, 1887.

ATTORNEYS.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3. J. T. GARRINGTON 81; A. J. SLEEPER. MUSIC LEAP TURNER.

No. 373,269. Patented Nov. 15, 1887.

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jz' d WITNESSES: .92 M

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN T. CARRINGTON AND ANDREW J. SLEEPER, OF CLAY CENTRE, KANSAS.

1MUSIC LEAF TURNER.

SPECIFICATION forming part. of Letters Patent No. 373,269, dated November 15, 1887,

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JOHN T. OARRINGTON and ANDREW J. SLEEPER, of Clay Centre, in the county of Clay and State of Kansas, have invented a new and Improved -Music-Leaf 'Turner, of which the following is a full, clear,

and exact description.

Our invention relates to a device adapted to turn leaves of music by the performer simply touching finger-plates on levers near the keyboard as he would the keys of an instrument, and adapted also for operation from foot-pedals when used on stands separate from musical instruments not having key-boards; and the invention has for its object to provide a simple, comparatively inexpensive, and efiicient device of this character adapted to turn the 1nusic-leaves to either side while playing or for repeating the music. I

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations ofparts of the music-leaf turner, all as hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be .had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of our improved musicleaf turner, with one side rest shown partly raised, in dotted lines, and part ,ofa piano on which the device rests, also shown in dotted lines.

Fig. 2 is a central vertical sectional elevation of the music-leaf turner drawn to alarger scale. Fig. 3 is a front view of the lower portion of the leaf-turner, the base being in section and parts renioved. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the base of the leaf-turner and a modified construction of mechanism therein. Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional elevation illustrating the action of one of the pawllevers and taken on'the line at as, Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a detail sectional side view, taken on the line y y, Fig. 3. Fig. 7 is a sectional plan view taken on the line zz, Fig. 2; and Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional side elevation showing a modified arrangement of the pawl. levers and ratchet mechanism to bring the finger-pieces of the leaf-turner closer to the key-board of a piano or organ.

We will describe the music-leaf turner at first with special reference to Figs. 1 to 7, in-

clusive, of the drawings, and afterward describe the modified construction shown in Fig. 8 of the drawings.

Generally speaking, the music-leaf turner consists of a case or base, A, containing the mechanism which actuates the leaf -turning arms of the device, a post or standard, B, fixed to and rising at a backward incline from the case A, a series of tubes orjournals, C, working one within the other and held to the post B, a series of music-leaf holding and turning arms, D, actuated from the tubes 0, clamps E, held to the post B, for holding the back of the sheets of music to be turned, opposite folding side rests, F F, for supporting the music, and clamps G G on these rests for confining the sheets of music which are not to be or central tube C, which may be a solid rod,

is stepped in a bearing at the head of an elastic or spring-metal standard, H, fixed at its lower end to the case A, and next said stand ard the inner tube or rod carries fixedly a pinion, c, and the other outer tubes C of the series carry, respectively, pinions c c 0 0 there being five tubes C shown in the series. provided each with aleaf-turning arm, D, and adapted to turn five sheets of music; but there may be as many of these arms D,with actuating-tubes C, as occasion may require. The pinions c c c c c are adapted, respectively, to engage segmental racks 1 2 3 4 5, fixed to the face of a wheel, I, which is fast to a shaft, J, journaled to and across the case A, and is actuated by pawls and ratchets for turning the tubes 0 and arms D either to the right or left hand, as presently explained. The lower ends of the several tubes 0, fitted on the inner tube or rod and on each other, and to which the pinions c 0 c, and c are fixed, are separated by metal plates 70, through which the several tnbes pass, and which are all held to of the music at the front of the tubes 0.

a cross or ti'e bar, said parts 70 k constitutingaeoupling, K, which has fixed to it an elongated eye, 70 with which the outer hook end, Z, of a spring, L, fixed at its other end to the case A, is adapted to engage.

The plates 70 of the coupling K, by separating the lower ends of the several tubes 0, prevent operation of one tube by friction on it of another tube or its pinion; hence the several tubes will be actuated one at a time by the wheel I, as required for turning the leaves. The. engagement of the spring L with the long loop or eye It not only holds the coupling K against turning, but allows disengagement of the spring from the eye 70 which when done permits the tubes 0 and the entire upper works of the device to be lifted from the body of the case, with its cover a, for access to the mechanism within the case, the cover being made detachable for this purpose.

Each of the arms D is bent three times at its extremity to form three portions, which project downward from the end of the arm toward the bottom of the music-rack, and the leaf of music to be held by each arm is slipped up between the doubled-over or two-strand part d of the Wire and the extremity d of the wire. The longest arm D is connected to the inner tube or red O and the shortest arm to the outermost tube 0, so that the shorter arms will be operated first to turn the music to the left hand, and the longer arms will be first swung around in turning the music-leaves back or toward the right hand, as hereinafter more fully explained.

The music-holding clamps Econsist ofa pair of plates, 0 c, which are journaled upon pins e, passed through lugs on the plates, and are normally closed at their forward ends by a spring, e", fitted on the pin 6. The forward ends of the clamp-plates are curved around the tubes 0 and face the performer. The clamp-plates pass through slots 6 made in the post B, and which give room for the clamps to be opened by pressing the back ends of their plates 6 6 toward each other to allow insertion Itis obvious that these clamps E make practically a substantial temporary binding for the music, and hold it securely with the bottoms of the leaves clear of the bottom ledges, f, of the side rests, F, and also clear of the cover a of the case A, thereby allowing free turning of the leaves when the arms D are thrown around to either side.

The side rests, F F, are made alike and with a series of bars or plates, f, preferably three, which are pivoted at theirinner ends to the center post, B, and at their outer ends have pivotal connection with a side plate, f. The ledgef forms apart of the lower bar f, or is fixed to it in any approved way, and this ledge forms a support t'or music-books which cannot be held by the clamps E, which are intended more especially for holding sheet or pamphlet music.

The music-leaf clamps G G are also made alike, and comprise a flat base-piece, g, which is held to the middle crossbar of the rest F by a thumbscrew, 9, passed through a slot, 9, in the crossbar, and the long clamp bar or plate G of the clamp is pivoted to the base.- piece 9 by a pin passed through lugs on both parts, and a spring fitted on the pin between the parts G forces the plate G down to or toward the cross bars f of the rest; hence when the tail-piece g of the plate G is pressed back the sheets of music which are not to be turned at any given performance may be slipped under the clam p plates G oteach side rest, and will be clamped securely for their whole height or length to the rests, and whereby the leaves to be turned which lie next the outer ones held by the clamps will not draw the corners of the outer clamped leaves part way over with them, as they would draw leaves clamped only at one point to the rests;-

hence a clamp, G, binding theleaves not to be turned to the rest for their whole length prevents said leaves interfering with the leaves to be last turned over by the arms D of the device.

The pivotal construction and connection of the rests F and clamps G allow them to be swung upward or folded in toward the center post, B, as will be understood from the dotted lines in Fig. l of the drawings, and in practice the arms D will be made detachable from their actuating tubes 0, to permit packing the arms closely to the post B and the folded side rests to facilitate transportation of the complete device.

\Ve will now describe the mechanism for operating the wheel I to turn the tubes 0 either way for swinging the leaf-holding arms D to either side. On the shaft J, at the left and right hand sides of the case A, respect ively, there are fixed a couple of ratchetwheels, M N, having teeth set opposite ways and adapted to be engaged by pawls O P, which are pivoted to the inner ends of levers R S, respectively, and these levers are fulcrumed at 9" s on a rod journaled in the sides of the case A and project therefrom, and are pro vided with finger-plates r s, which are to be touched by the player to cause turning of the leaves. Each of these pawl-levers R S is forced upward at its outer end by a spring, T, fixed to the case A and acting outside of the fulcrums of the levers, which are limited on their downstrokes by posts or stops 2, fixed to the case.

We mention'specially the relative arrangement of the fulcrums of the pawl-levers with the pawl-pivots and the ratchet-wheels M N and the lever-springs T to cause the levers when thrown up to normal positions by the only its own pinion, and we make the toothed y when the proper pawl-lever 1s depressed.

tion allows the shaft J and both ratchet-wheels M N to be turned either way independently of the pawls when the leaf-turning arms D are swung around by hand without operating the pawl-levers. In other words, this automatic disengagement of the pawls from the ratchets allows the arms D, carrying the leaves of music, to be turned freely by hand either way at any time during the performance of a piece of music, as may be desired, and also to allow the pawl-levers to be operated independently of each other for turning the leaves either way as the music is played.

As shown most clearly in Figs. 2 and 6, the racksegments 1 2 8 4 5 of the wheel I, which engage t-he'pinions c, 0, c o and c on the series of tubes 0, for turning the arms D, which hold the music-leaves, are arranged, respectively, farther from the center of the wheel I or its shaft J, so that each segment engages edges of the segments curved or highest at the center, (see Figs. 3 and 4,) so that when the segments first engage the pinions they will mesh easily with them to facilitate the operation of the shaft J and wheel I by the pawllevers, and this rounding contour of the segmental racks also assists the turning of the leaf-holding arms during the last half of their swinging movement either Way, because the rack in reaching its central point of engagement with the pinion will force the elastic bearing H outward a little, and as the rack moves over its highest point or center in contact with the pinion the bearing H will spring back again to normal position; hence the elas tic bearing co-operates with the convexity of the rack-teeth to secure easy and complete operation of the music-leaf-turning arms by the performer touching one of the pawl-levers as he would touch one of the keys of the piano. A lug, 6, fixed to and rising from the bottom of the case A, forms astop against which the wheel-racks 1 5 (or 2 and 5) strike at the extremts of motion of the wheel, or when all the leaf-turning arms D have been thrown to one side or the other of the music-rack, and the wheel I'is stopped at either extreme of movement with one of the racks, l or 5, engaged with its pin-ion or ready to engage its pinion be splined to the shaft J, and a spring, I, be

placed between a collara', on the shaft and the wheel to allow the wheel to yield as the higher central parts of the racks 1, 2,3, 4, or 5 are engaging the pinions on the tubes 0, this arrangement of the wheel and spring being a mechanical equivalent of the fixed wheel and elastic or yielding bearing I H, above described, and serves in all respects like them to facilitate the turning oftheleaf-holding arms D. The case Ais provided with a basefiange, a,

which is slipped into or beneath a grooved guide, (t on thepiano or other keyed instrument, and when the music-leaf turner is to be used on a stand separate from musicalinstruments of any kind cords or chains RS will be attached to eyes or staples Ws'flfixed to the fin ger-plates 'l' s of the pawl-levers, and will be connected to pedals at the floor for operation by the foot of the performer to depress the pawl-levers for turning the leaves of music.

The operation of the device is as follows: The sheet music will first be placed in the clamps E, and the leaves not to be turned will, be placed below the plates G of the clamps G at either or both side rests, F, and the leaves to be turned will be slipped up into the loops (2 d ofthe arms D, one leaf into each arm,and the arms will be swung around to the right hand. When the first leaf is to be turned,the pawl-lever R will be depressed, whereby the pawl 0 will be caused to engage and turn the ratchet M, shaft J, and wheel I, to cause the rack 5 on the wheel to engage the pinion c on the outer tube 0 and turn it and, its connected arm D to carryaround theleafto the left hand, and as the playing progresses the leaves may be turned successively to the left hand by operating the pawllever B to carry the successive racks 4 3 2 1 on the wheel I into engagement with their respective pinions c e c c on the tubes 0 to operate their respective arms D. lfat any time during the performance itis desired to turn back one or more ofthe musicleaves for repeating the music, this may be done by simply touching the pawl-lever S, which, through its pawl P and ratchet N, will turn the wheel I to cause theracks thereon to engage the pinions on the tubes 0 and swing them and their arms D around to the right hand again.

Fig. 8 of the drawings illustrates how the pawl-levers It S and their pawls O P and ratchet-wheels M N may be arranged with a shaft, J, journaled within the case of a piano .or organ to allow the pawl -levers to project quite closely to thekey-board U of the instrument, several inches closerthan when the levers project directly from the case A,as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 of the drawings, and when the pawl-levers are arranged as in Fig. 8 the shaft J of their ratchets will carry a gearwheel, V, which will project through a slot in the instrument-case in position to be engaged by a gear-wheel fixed to the shaft J in the case A,carrying the rack-wheel I, or it may beinto teeth VV,formed at the periphery of the wheel I. Thus arranged the wheel I may be operated from the pawl-levers whenever the case A of the device carrying the rack-wheel I, the tubes 0, arms D, rests F, and clamps E G is slipped into its pocket or guide a on the instrumentcase above the paw1-levers to engage the gears V W, as will readily be understood.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

ICO

1. In a music-leaf turner, the combination, with leaf holding and turning arms held to revoluble journals or tubes, of levers carrying pawls adapted to engage ratchet-wheels for operating'mechanism for actuating the journals'and leaf-holding arms to turn the musicleaves, substantially as specified, and springs normally lifting the levers to throw the pawls out of the ratchets, substantially as shown and described, whereby the leaf-holding arms may be turned either way freely by hand, as and for the purposes set forth.

2. A music-leaf turner constructed with a supporting case and post, a series of tubes journaled thereto and each carrying a leafturning arm and a pinion, a wheel journaled to the case or support and having segmental face-racks adapted to engage the tube-pinions for turning the leaf-holding arms independently, two ratchet-wheels having teeth arranged opposite ways and fixed to the wheelshaft, two levers carrying pawls adapted to engage the ratchets to turn them and the shaft in opposite directions as the outer ends of the pawl-levers are depressed, and springs acting to lift the levers and disengage their pawls from the ratchets to allow free turning of the leaf-holding arms to either side, substantially as herein set forth.

3. A music-leaf turner constructed with a supportingpost, a series of tubes jonrnaled thereto and each carrying'a leaf-turning arm, pinions fixed to the tubes, and a wheel having segmental face-racks at points successively nearer the Wheel-shaft and adapted to engage the tube-pinions for turning the leaf-holding arms, and said wheelsegments made rounding at their toothed edges, in combination with an elastic or yielding bearing supporting 0 the tubes, substantially as described, for the purposes set forth.

4. The combination, in a music leaf turner, of a base or case, A, a post, B, thereon, side rests for the music held to the post, a series of tubes, O, journaled to the post and a hearing in the case and provided with pinions, as c 0' 0 c 0 at their lower ends, a shaft, J, jonrnaled in the case, ratchet-wheels M N, having teeth ranging opposite ways, and fixed to shaft J, levers R S, journaled to the case, pawls O P, pivoted to said levers and adapted to turn the shaft in opposite directions when the levers are depressed, springs T, normally lifting the levers to disengage their pawls from the ratchets, and a wheel, I, on the shaft J, provided with segmental racks, as 1 2 3 4. 5, adapted to engage the tube-pinions, substantially as shown and described.

5. The combination, in a music-leaf turner,

of a base or case, A, a post, B, tubes 0, journaled thereon, pinions, as c c e c 0 on said tubes, a shaft, J, journaled in the case and provided with a wheel, I, having face-racks l 2 3 4 5, adapted to engage the tube-pinions, and a stop, as 6, in the case to limit the rotation of the rack-wheels, substantially as shown and described.

6. In a music-leaf turner, the combination, with a supporting case and post and a series of tubes, 0, carrying leaf-holding arms and supported in a step-bearing and provided with pinions for engagement of racks to operate them, substantially as specified, of a coupling, K, having a series of plates, 76, fitted between the pinions of the tubes and supported from the ease of the device, substantially as shown and described.

7. In a musicleaf turner, the combination, with a supporting case and post and a series of tubes, 0, carrying leaf-holding arms D, and supported in astep-bearing and provided with pinions for engagement of racks to operate them, substantially as specified, of a coupling, K, having a series of plates, 70, fitted between the pinions of the tubes and provided with an elongated eye, If, and a spring, L, fitted to the case and engaging the eye by its free end, substantially as herein set forth.

8. A music-leaf turner made with a support ing-post and a series of tubes carrying leaf holding arms and journaled to the post, and clamps arranged on the post to bind the backs of the leaves together and hold the music next the tubes, substantially as herein set forth.

9. The combination, in amusic-leaf turner, with a supportingpost, B, and a series of tubes, 0, thereon carrying leafholding arms, of spring-clamps E, held to the post and having jaws e e extending forward at opposite sides of the tubes and in front of them for clamping the back of the music, substantially as shown and described.

10. In a musicleaf turner, the combination, with a central supporting-post carrying a series of leaf holding and turning arms, of side rests, F, pivoted to the post and adapted to fold to or toward the post, substantially as shown and described.

11. A music-leaf turner provided with side rests for supporting the music and clamps held to the side rests and having jaws extending about the full height of said rests or the music-leaves supported by them, substantially as herein set forth.

12. In a music-leaf turner, the combination,

with a supporting-post and side rests, as F, held thereto, of clamps G, having springpressed jaws or plates G extending about the full height of the leaves to be held, and said clamps adapted for lateral adjustment on the side rests, substantially as shown and described.

JOHN T. OARRINGTON. ANDRINV J. SLEEPER.

Witnesses:

U. H. EMICK, GEORGE MORGAN. 

